Rep. Jim Jordan held a town hall in Amherst on September 1, and began by listing major policy changes as well as political problems that have occurred over the last two months. Because we are constantly inundated with 24/7 news cycles that are more interested in ratings than in content, people may not recognize how significant these issues actually are. Over the last ten weeks:

the Supreme Court decided that marriage has nothing to do with gender despite thousands of years of history;

following the lead of the federal government, municipalities are choosing not to comply with immigration laws and becoming Sanctuary Cities;

the President, without debate or consultation with those in Congress, normalizes relations with Cuba;

the Inspector General said that the IRS purposely destroyed 422 back-up tapes AFTER Congress asked for the data;

Congress declares a treaty to be “not a treaty” allowing a minority of members to implement the Iran Nuclear Deal;

and finally we have videos illustrating that there is a market for human embryos to be sold as a commodity.

The 50 or so attendees were frustrated with the chronic ineptitude of the Republican leadership in Congress. The GOP has large majorities today both houses, yet they continue to send to the White House only bills that President Obama will sign. Jordan and other Republicans were sent to Washington to STOP the president, not work with him. Yet the “turncoat” Speaker Boehner and Sen. McConnell seem dedicated to stopping any piece of legislation that is remotely conservative.

Jordan assured people that the next 60 days were going to be a very important test for GOP leadership as well as for the conservative insurgents who make up the “Freedom Caucus” which Jordan chairs. In September and October, Congress will be dealing with a number of issues that are critical to the grassroots base. Apologies for another enumerated list, but these issue are:

the Iran deal, which is now certain to pass the Senate;

whether or not Congress should (once again!) break the spending caps it had set for itself;

Conservatives oppose each of these measures, which means that they are all likely to pass with Republican support. Jordan was asked if he ever considered why Congress was held in such disrepute. He certainly has considered it, and to be fair, Jordan is one of those fighting for the cause. But what good is a Republican Party that campaigns on fundamental and constitutional issues if they only have the courage to vote with Democrats?

Jordan discussed other important topics, such as the IRS, Benghazi, and immigration. Regarding the IRS, he said the House is moving toward impeachment proceedings for IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. With Benghazi, Jordan said that the FOIA requests by Judicial Watch has been very helpful in attaining documents. Congress gets ignored by the executive branch because they can’t throw people in jail. But when the courts say that the State Department needs to release such-and-such documents, they tend to be more compliant. And regarding immigration, there is a great concern with people getting identification like driver’s licenses and then registering to vote without ever attaining citizenship. Ohio Secretary of State John Husted has testified before Congress on this matter, but there is no way to officially designate a person as a non-citizen.

Finally another issue which further exemplifies the total absence of authority in Congress is in the EPA. They have just issued a WOTUS (Waters of the United States) Rule which will allow the EPA to have authority over ALL rivers, streams, and ponds in this country. Congress has increasingly passed laws like the Clean Water Act with a clause saying that the agency can write regulations as they see fit. As a result, these executive branch organizations are writing rules that have the force of law. While Congress may only pass about 100 laws each year, the number of regulations per year easily reach well into the thousands!

We appreciate Rep. Jordan (and Rep. Kaptur) for holding town halls in Lorain County this month. Many people feel disconnected from those in Washington, and that was never the intention of the Founders. America was supposed to be filled with citizen-legislators who would never pass a law against the people since they would have to live under those laws themselves. Today with career politicians, we have lost that connection. We always urge every citizen to stay active and informed in political matters since we all live under the rules set by those who govern us.